MY FAST PACED PR INTERNSHIP WITH AWARD WINNING SCOTTISH FIRM

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HOW TO SUM UP THE FIRST WEEK OF MY PR INTERNSHIP

DID you know – your brain is a muscle and needs to be trained?

Use it or lose it, they say. Well, if you’ve completed an internship at Holyrood PR, you must be blessed with a well-toned, fighting-fit mind.

Lecturers at my university have always stressed to us that PR is very fast- paced, ever-changing, creative and challenging subject. I think that is what attracted me to study this subject in the first place.

Luckily enough, I can now say I’ve had an amazing opportunity to escape the classroom and experience PR first-hand while on my internship at Holyrood PR.

After hearing so many good things about the company from my tutors I was eager to get started. So now that I can look back on my first set of experiences at the Edinburgh agency, here is my take on my career-changing experience so far.

Challenge accepted!

At first I was nervous. Coming from a different country, where English is not my mother-tongue, and as a former film and current PR student, I had very little to no real experience in the industry.

However, as I was eager to improve myself and learn more about this fascinating subject, I could not wait to start my four-week internship.

Upon arrival at the office on my first day, I was given a quick tour by one of two Cats (C-M), who introduced me to the team and the famous “Intern Bible”, which I thought was a joke made up by former interns. Do not be mistaken, this resource is real and it is HUGE.

Afterwards, I got to do my first newspaper sweep to learn more about the news agenda, as well as the topics of interest to the agency’s clients.

I was then shown by Fraser how to upload and optimise content to the Holyrood PR website and tasked to do two montages of coverage to display some amazing results for Bell Ingram and the Scottish Business Resilience Centre, something I really enjoyed as I always liked working with photoshop.

Expecting to make a slow start in the office, perhaps, run a tea and coffee service for the team, I was pleasantly surprised and excited to dive full speed into the diverse world of PR.

The following days got even better. It is true what they say, no two days are alike.

As my daily to-do list was getting longer, the variety of tasks given was even more diverse. Here is just a quick sum-up of what I had a chance to do:

  • I joined Katie on a conference call with a St Andrews shop owner after which I was tasked to draft a blog post. The shop’s owner was a true linguist, who, along with Katie’s journalistic interviewing style has challenged my listening and writing skills. I really did not want to miss a single line when drafting the blog post!
  • I have helped to choose the winner for The Walled Garden Facebook competition, getting an understanding of the process of paid posts on Facebook, as well as measurement and evaluation.
  • I have drafted a media report for Bell Ingram, explaining the relevance and importance of key target media coverage.
  • I was thrilled to get a chance to join Sebastien and Raymond for a video interview at Bield’s offices. This trip was really exiting. It felt great being able to help Sebastian to assemble and prepare for the interview.

CAN IT GET ANY BETTER? It sure can.

For a gadget lover, drone practice was a dream come true. I got a chance to go for a test flight with Phantom 4, one of the best professional-grade models on the market.

Needless to say, I’ve have had a rewarding first week at Holyrood PR. After my first five days as an intern, I can definitely say that public relations is a versatile career path, where you can match your passions to your job and I am really grateful to Holyrood PR for giving me an opportunity to experience it.

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